Chapter 4 - A surprise visitor

Leah’s POV

I thought it would be as easy as grabbing my keys and making a run for it, but boy was I mistaken! Not only did Sebastian keep an eagle eye on my damn keys, but Carl kept an eagle eye on my every movement. Over the next couple of days, I spent some time getting to know Sebastian’s family while sussing out how far Carl would go to look after me, and even when I thought I had gotten rid of him, he would pop up out of nowhere! The man was so good at his job, it was damn scary! The only times I didn’t see him was when I was in Sebastian’s care, so to speak. The rest of the time, he was there in the background. Somewhere. I was just starting to feel a little lost when Emily appeared to take me on a shopping trip. Her excuse was that she saw my bag of clothes and “no Luna in her right mind would be caught dead with only one bag of clothes”.

To prove her point, she took me to the beta floor, and as we walked into the room, I must have looked like a shell-shocked baboon, gaping at everything. Her closet wasn’t just a closet. It was an entire room filled with every possible piece of clothing you could think of, and that didn’t include the room next door where all her accessories and shoes were packed out as if they were all on show. How? Why? I couldn’t even form the words to ask her how or why anybody could have so much! Thankfully, she immediately jumped into an explanation of how her mother taught her as a young girl that if her mate turned out to be an Alpha one day, she had to be prepared to be a Luna, and so on and so forth. I couldn’t remember seeing a room or rooms like this in Sebastian’s loft, and I couldn’t even imagine there being such a place up there. Where would I put any of it? The loft was already filled with so much, but again, as if reading my thoughts, Emily explained that Sebastian had the loft redecorated a while back and they changed it from a three-bedroomed floor to an open-plan loft. That made me ask if he ever thought that he would have a mate who might want to have a cupboard and I was expecting a laugh, but it seemed as if my joke wasn’t that funny, so I quickly changed the subject to shoes, which had Emily instantly perk up. I could only guess that talking about Sebastian and the Alpha floor reminded Emily of her parents and their lives before Sebastian took over.

It was a little strange that she would seem sad about it since she seemed so incredibly happy with her mate and children, but I didn’t have much time to dwell when she grabbed my hand and dragged me downstairs. To my surprise, Sebastian was eagerly waiting to join us and was talking animatedly on the drive. I didn’t know the area very well, since I had never strayed this far away from home, and I was grateful to find a small town just outside of their territory. It didn’t seem as if there were any wolves around, so there was the slight possibility that I could hide there for a day or two even. Just long enough for me to explore and find some employment out of the way.

If there was one thing I learned quickly, it was that these little towns knew almost everything about everybody. You have to first make friends with the local baker. If you had her or him even in your pocket, you were on your way to making friends with everyone and once they were your friends, it made things really tough for outsiders to get any information about you. If you don’t make friends with people, they will rat you out in a heartbeat.

We walked down the main street and Emily dragged me into every single shop, introducing me to everyone, which kind of ruined my plans to hide there a little. I wouldn’t want to tell some ridiculous lie about the pack just so I could get away. It might benefit me for a day, but it would make things difficult for the pack for the rest of their lives, knowing people had to count for something, in the end, right? After shopping till we dropped, we popped into the local ice cream shop and I found it almost impossible to choose a flavour. I hadn’t had ice cream in forever!

Sebastian surprised me when we walked into the tailor and he ordered a new suit. I wasn’t used to men shopping, and couldn’t stop the laughter from escaping. They both frowned at me, but I didn’t say anything and just mumbled something about fabric as if I knew anything at all about fabric. My sense of fashion wasn’t ever based on anything other than whatever was the cheapest. I would definitely have to leave the clothes they bought me behind because someone might just decide to mug me on the way if I had this type of clothes to wear or even just packed away in my car. The cleaners at the motels I usually stayed at would definitely help themselves and that would just break my heart. No, the clothes would have to stay if I left. When I left, I reprimanded myself. That was ridiculous! I couldn’t possibly stay! Why was I even thinking that way?

I decided that it probably had something to do with the wonderful time we were having and that I had to keep reminding myself that I couldn’t stay. I had to focus on getting out. I had to focus on getting as far away as fast as possible before anybody found out that I was a second-hand mate. Someone else’s reject. Oh, goddess! I wasn’t even that, since Eli never rejected me!

My life really sucked, didn’t it? On the drive back, I didn’t even realize I was quiet until Emily mentioned it and I sighed, pretending to just be tired. That opened the door for a sister to bug her brother about keeping me up till all hours of the morning, and it took their attention off me for a little while.

We pulled into the parking lot, and at the sight of the red sportscar, my heart stopped!

“Eli.” I mouthed. How the fuck did he find me here?

“What the hell is that idiot doing here?” Sebastian sighed, piercing my own manic thoughts, and for a moment I hoped that Eli wasn’t here because of me, but then I realized that I would have to get out of the car and, even if he wasn’t here for me, that would change instantly! I started to pretend to be looking for something in my bag as soon as the car came to a halt. Sebastian got out and walked around to greet Eli while Carl opened my door.

“Carl, I need something from my car.” I could feel the panic rise and Carl must have noticed something because he looked at Eli and then stepped in front of me, obscuring me from Eli’s view.

“Of course, Luna.” He closed the door and I watched as he walked over to Sebastian. They exchanged a couple of words before he returned with my car keys. “I’ve explained to Alpha that you are tired after your trip and you asked to be excused so you can rest?” He cocked his one eyebrow and looked amused as I whispered a thank you. I wondered what he was thinking, but appreciated the fact that he instinctively seemed very protective of me. Was my reaction to Eli that obvious? Did Carl perhaps know something? Since Emily was Sebastian’s Beta, she was on her way with the men to their meeting and I helped Carl gather our bags and take them upstairs as soon as they were all out of sight. “Luna, is Alpha Eli a threat I should know about?” Carl asked as soon as we entered the loft and I was ready to burst out in tears.

“I guess you could say that. I would prefer not to discuss it.” I couldn’t tell Carl the entire story. He would be duty-bound to tell Sebastian and then I probably wouldn’t even have to run because Sebastian might just hand me over to Eli for all I knew! No, I couldn’t tell anybody the truth. “Let’s just say that our paths crossed and it didn’t end well for me.” I couldn’t even muster the slightest of smiles. I was grateful when Carl nodded.

“Your secret is safe with me, Luna.” He bowed his head and, for some reason, I believed that he wouldn’t tell a soul. He wouldn’t let me escape this place, but he would keep my secret. I sat down on the couch and started to unpack when my mind drifted off to Eli. Why was he here? Would he ask them about me? My heart froze for a moment and I wondered what Sebastian would do.

An hour went by and there was still no sign of Sebastian, so I went down to the Beta floor in search of Emily. I found her throwing a pair of shoes in the corner of her closet while she swore at someone. Of course, my mind went straight to “Eli told them the truth”! He probably felt my presence there! Why didn’t I think of that?! For someone who was so clever at running, I really was being awfully thick!

“Hi, Emily, what did the shoes do to you to deserve that kind of treatment?” My laugh sounded awfully fake, but she turned to look at me and her face just sparkled.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that Alpha! He thinks he is so damn important …” She stopped mid-sentence and waved her hand through the air. “It’s nothing important. He just makes me so angry sometimes.” She laughed. “I really shouldn’t let him get to me like that.” I breathed deeply as I realized that my secret hadn’t been revealed by Eli. I once again wondered if he knew I was there, but Emily distracted me quickly as she unpacked her shopping.

“What did he want?” I tried my best to sound casual. It was a general type of question, wasn’t it?

“Uhm, well, since you are going to become the Luna, I may just as well tell you.” She sighed and sat down next to me. “He wants a piece of our territory. It’s actually a long story, but it boils down to one of our ancestors buying it from one of his ancestors, but he is convinced it was stolen blah blah blah.” She rolled her eyes. “Sebastian will never agree to the idiot’s terms. We have more than enough proof and if the bastard wants a fight, I’m ready for him!” She growled and I almost burst out laughing as I thought of how she could actually tear Eli limb from limb and he wouldn’t be strong enough to fight her. I wouldn’t ever want to get on Emily’s wrong side.

When Sebastian joined us a little while later, he also didn’t look happy and I wondered again if I could tell them the truth. Since they clearly didn’t like Eli. No, I couldn’t. This wasn’t just about Eli. It was about the fact that I was an omega. That because I was an omega Eli didn’t want me. Why on earth would Sebastian want me?